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World Yo-Yo Contest
The World Yo-Yo Contest (also known as Worlds or WYYC for short) is a contest held every year and it was organized by Infinite Illusions' Greg Cohen up until 2013. Currently, the International Yo-Yo Federation has taken over the contest and is now being held every year between Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Historically, from 2001 to 2013, the contest was held at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida on the first weekend of every August. At the end of the contest, seven yo-yoers leave with the title "World Yo-Yo Champion" in their division (A, AA, AAA, FH, OS, Artistic Performance (AP), and Combined (CB)) History In 1932, the very first World Yo-Yo Contest was held in England, where Harvey Lowe won the title of World Champion. Although other, similar contests were held before 1932 were claimed to be "World Championships", they were sponsored by specific manufacturers to run as promotions for their products and are not generally recognized as genuine world contests. In 1950, Cheerio held a large North American contest, which was not considered a world contest, yet one of the winners was known to refer to himself as a "World Champion". In 1962, Duncan had 32 demonstrators on the road whom it claimed were "World Yo-Yo Champions", of which many had never actually entered any yo-yo contest in their careers. In 1972, a yo-yo contest referred to as the "World Yo-Yo Championship" was held in Toronto, Canada, where it was won by professional yo-yo demonstrator Bunny Martin. However, this was not a genuine world contest. In 1992, Dale Oliver brought back the World Yo-Yo Contest in its current format, with the first running held at the 1992 International Jugglers' Association (IJA) convention in Montreal, Canada. In 1999, the World Yo-Yo Contest was held in Honolulu, Hawaii by High Performance Kites in collaboration with Bandai. Since 2000, the World Yo-Yo Contest was run by Greg Cohen in Orlando, Florida, USA. In 2013, the World Yo-Yo Contest committee announced the contest would be taken over by the then-newly-formed International Yo-Yo Federation and the contest would move between the Americas, Europe and Asia each year. Considering that there were those within the community who wished for the contest to be held in places with more exposure than at the Rosen Plaza Hotel's Grand Ballroom in Orlando, Florida, this was readily accepted. The 2014 contest took place in Prague, Czech Republic, the 2015 contest was held in Tokyo, Japan, and in 2016, it was held in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States. The cycle of where the contest would be held would repeat between Europe, Asia, and the United States. In this way, the World Yo-Yo Contest could truly be considered an international competition. In November 2015, it was announced on YoYoNews that the 2017 World Yo-Yo Contest would be held and hosted in Reykjavik, Iceland. The 2018 Worlds will be held in Shanghai, China. It is announced that the 2019 World Yo-Yo Contest would be held in Cleveland, Ohio, marking the second time that the contest would be held there in three years since the 2016 contest. On March 21st, 2019, on the official IYYF website, it was announced that the 2020 contest would be held in Budapest, Hungary, and the 2021 contest in Japan. Current Champions (2019 - Cleveland, Ohio) *1A - Gentry Stein *2A - Takuma Yamamoto *3A - Hajime Miura *4A - Rei Iwakura *5A - Hideo Ishida *Women's Division - Betty Gallegos *Over 40 Division - Takahiko Hasegawa *AP - Shu Takada Past Champions 2018 - Shanghai, China *1A - Evan Nagao *2A - Shu Takada *3A - Hajime Miura *4A - Hajime Miura *5A - Sora Ishikawa *AP - OLD SKOOL FAMOUS *Women's Division - Xiao Wen Wang *Over 40 Division - Koji Torita 2017 - Reykjavik, Iceland *1A - Shion Araya *2A - Shu Takada *3A - Hajime Miura *4A - Rei Iwakura *5A - Takuma Inoue *AP - inmot!on (GrandPrix and Entertainment Award) *Women's Division - Tessa Piccillo *Over 40 Division - Steve Brown 2016 - Cleveland, Ohio *1A - Shion Araya *2A - Shu Takada *3A - Hajime Miura *4A - Rei Iwakura *5A - Takeshi Matsuura *AP - Tommy (Artistic Award), OLD SKOOL FAMOUS (Entertainment Award) *Women's Division - Beatriz Gallegos Garcia *Over 40 Division - Takahiko Hasegawa 2015 - Tokyo, Japan *1A - Zach Gormley *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Hajime Miura *4A - Naoto Onishi *5A - Jake Elliott *AP - SHAQLER (Entertainment Award and GrandPrix), Beat Poin't (Artistic Award), WHO Theatre (Creativity Award) *Women's Division - Xiao-Wen Wong A.K.A. "Hobbit" *Over 40 Division - Kiyoshi Kawamura 2014 - Prague, Czech Republic *1A - Gentry Stein *2A - Takuma Yamamoto *3A - Hajime Miura *4A - Rei Iwakura *5A - Takeshi Matsuura *AP - SPINATION (GrandPrix and Artistic Award), Tuan Chin-Min (Creativity Award) *Women's Division - Tessa Piccillo 2013 - Orlando, Florida *1A - János Karancz *2A - Takuma Yamamoto *3A - Hank Freeman *4A - Michael Nakamura *5A - Takeshi Matsuura *AP - SPINATION 2012 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Hiroyuki Suzuki *2A - Shu Takada *3A - Hank Freeman *4A - Rei Iwakura *5A - Takeshi Matsuura *AP - Jan Schmutz 2011 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Marcus Koh *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Hank Freeman *4A - Naoto Okada *5A - Takeshi Matsuura *AP - Takahiko Hasegawa 2010 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Jensen Kimmitt *2A - Yasushi Furukawa *3A - Minato Furuta *4A - Tsubasa Onishi *5A - Takeshi Matsuura *AP - SHAQLER 2009 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Shinya Kido *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Kentaro Kimura *4A - Naoto Okada *5A - Takuma Inoue *AP - Rei Iwakura *CB - Shinji Saito 2008 - Orlando, Florida *1A - John Ando *2A - Takuma Yamamoto *3A - Hiroki Miyamoto *4A - Rei Iwakura *5A - Takeshi Matsuura *AP - John Higby *CB - Shinji Saito 2007 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Yuuki Spencer *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Yuki Tanami *4A - Eiji Okuyama *5A - Tyler Severance *AP - Tomonari Ishiguro *CB - Shinji Saito 2006 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Hiroyuki Suzuki *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Paul Yath *4A - Taiki Nishimura *5A - Dana Bennett *AP - Yu Kawada *CB - Shinji Saito 2005 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Hiroyuki Suzuki *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Daisuke Shimada *4A - John Narum *5A - Maya Nakamura *AP - Takahiko Hasegawa 2004 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Hiroyuki Suzuki *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Daisuke Shimada *4A - Tsubasa Onishi *5A - Makoto Numagami *AP - Tomiyuki Watanabe 2003 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Johnnie Delvalle *2A - Shinji Saito *3A - Daisuke Shimada *4A - Eiji Okuyama *5A - Rafael Matsunaga *AP - Mark Montgomery 2002 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Yuuki Spencer *2A - Shinji Saito *X - Daisuke Shimada *AP - Takahiko Hasegawa 2001 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Tomonari Ishiguro *2A - Matt Harlow *X - Shingo Terada 2000 - Orlando, Florida *1A - Yu Kawada *2A - Tomoya Kitamura *X - Hironori Mii 1999 - Honolulu, Hawaii *1A - Joel Zink *2A - Takumi Nagase 1998 - Las Vegas, Nevada *SH - Ryoichi Suzuki *DH - Jennifer Baybrook 1997 *PRO/AM - Bill de Boisblanc *Masters - Jason Tracy *Advanced - John Stangle *Novice - Ryan Zink *Masters Freestyle - Nalukai Ho'okano 1996 - Rapid City, South Dakota *Pro/Am - Dale Myrberg *Masters - Dave Schulte *Novice - Mikey McCabe 1995 - Las Vegas, Nevada *Pro-Am Division - Bill de Boisblanc *Masters Division - Mark Hayward *Senior Advanced - Stuart Crump *Junior Advanced - Jacob A. Hall *Novice Division - Brett Jurgens 1994 - Burlington, Vermont *CH - Bill de Boisblanc 1993 - Fargo, North Dakota *CH - Rocco Ysaguirre 1992 - Montreal, Canada *CH - Dale Oliver 1972 - Toronto, Canada *Winner: Bunny Martin 1932 - England *Winner: Harvey Lowe Trivia *The 2000 Worlds, which was held at the Universal Studios Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida, had also marked the very first running of the World Spin Top Contest. External link *World Yo-yo Contest homepage Category:Contests